Ed Sheeran croons with 80,000 at sold-out MetLife Stadium show | Review (2024)

Ed Sheeran returned to MetLife Stadium on Saturday night for the first Meadowlands performance since 2018. And this time, he wasn’t alone.

The Grammy-winning redheaded British singer-songwriter has filled arenas and stadium around the world — just him and his tiny acoustic guitar are enough to have women young and old (and some men) screaming in excitement and singing along to every folky soft-rock ballad. His sold-out Garden State return was part of the Mathematics Tour, an 88-show world tour spanning more than a year.

When a massive circular LED screen slowly lifted off the stage Saturday night, it revealed once again, just Sheeran and his guitar. But stationed around the main stage, separated by a moat of fans, were four small outposts for backing musicians.

One of the world’s most popular one-man bands finally got a band.

Well, sort of.

Sheeran performed his first two numbers with the band, opening with 2021 hit “Tides” before transitioning into “Blow,” a bluesy rock song he wrote with Chris Stapleton and Bruno Mars. Pillars of fire launched from the stage as Sheeran and the band rocked out — compared to his majorly soft and mellow catalogue, this was like seeing the West Yorkshire play death metal.

The band subsided after that — and though they would return for a section of songs later, the majority of Saturday’s two hour-plus performance was just like Sheeran’s last MetLife show. Him, his guitar, and a looping station. Sheeran explained early in the show how that third piece of equipment worked, an intricate device that records riffs on his guitar and from his voice and plays them back at his will. Everything the crowd heard that night was live with no backing track, Sheeran promised, and all the loops would be deleted at the end of the night so he could start from scratch at the next show — another MetLife performance on Sunday night.

While the addition of a backing band was a welcome change of pace from Sheeran, the most exciting part of seeing him perform (other than hearing his crooning tenor voice) is watching him build songs with layer upon layer of sound. The strumming of strings, the thumping of his hand on his acoustic guitar for percussive effect, different sounds from his mouth and more come together to craft something impressive regardless of how you feel about his music. For those seeing the 32-year-old perform for the first time, it might have been hard to believe that music was coming from one person in real time.

At certain points it felt more like watching a musician work in a studio to make a song than a live performance. But Sheeran’s stage presence more than makes up for it. As far as stage production, he’s no Taylor Swift — a close friend of his who played three titanic shows at this same venue as part of the Eras Tour just a few weeks ago. But once his loops were set for a given song, he was free to bound around the round stage near MetLife’s 50-yard line, making sure to give attention to every corner of the stadium filled with 80,000 fans.

When he wasn’t running circles with the microphone in his hand, the stage was moving for him. An outer track of the platform was in constant rotation, and throughout the night he positioned himself on it to give the stadium a 360-degree view of his performance. Looping stations were positioned around the track, and Sheeran often found himself running to catch up with one to change songs.

The carousel-esque stage was not the only unique component of the stage. Massive pillars rose high into the air on an angle, covered with LED lights that flashed and changed color in time with the music — and supported multiple guitar pick-shaped screens that broadcast the performance for those in the upper deck.

Much to the delight of the crowd, he brought out ascendant R&B singer Khalid (who opened for him hours earlier) to sing “Beautiful People” when he brought his band back out later in the set.

But Sheeran doesn’t need pyrotechnics, LED screens, guest performers or even a backing band to have a massive crowd wrapt. Just him singing and playing his guitar had the 80,000 fans entranced, hanging on every word as they danced and sang along. He was alone on stage for “Perfect,” the 2017 love song that has now been the first-dance song at a million weddings. MetLife became a sea of cell phone lights as thousands sang with Sheeran about dancing in the dark. He’s no Bruce Springsteen, but he clearly has a large fanbase in the Garden State.

No, Ed Sheeran is not for everyone. Plenty in the stadium Saturday night were likely dragged there by a significant other or a child. But even if Sheeran’s dulcet tones and folky soft-rock songs aren’t your cup of tea, you can’t help but be impressed with what kind of show he can put on with just a guitar.

Ed Sheeran’s setlist

June 10, 2023 — MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.

• Tides
• BLOW
• I’m a Mess
• Shivers
• The A Team
• Castle on the Hill
• Don’t
• Eyes Closed
• Give Me Love
• Boat
• Own It / PERU / South of the Border / I Don’t Care
• Beautiful People (with Khalid)
• Curtains
• End of Youth
• Overpass Graffiti
• Galway Girl
• Thinking Out Loud
• Love Yourself (Justin Bieber cover)
• Sing
• Photograph
• Perfect
• Bloodstream
• Afterglow
• You Need Me, I Don’t Need You
• Shape of You
• Bad Habits

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Jeremy Schneider may be reached at jschneider@njadvancemedia.com and followed on Twitter at @J_Schneider and on Instagram at @JeremyIsHungryAgain.